How to Effectively Manage Your Time

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How to Effectively Manage Your TimeCategories:How Tos∙∙If you're struggling to find the ideal work-life balance, this page will teach you how to effectively manage your time and get the most out of your day.∙Time Management Tips1. Write down how you use your time and how much of it you use in certainareas.2. Decide on your optimal time usage and compare it to your current reality.3. Look for activities to cut out or cut back on in order to make time for moreimportant endeavors.4. Plan ahead and stick to your schedule.5. Leave some blocks of free time for fun and relaxation.∙∙Introductiono Most people have heard that they are supposed to sleep eight hours a night, exercise three to five times a week and eat three healthy, well-balanced meals a day.This sounds simple enough, until you factor in your 40 hour a week job, hobbies andsocial life. For people raising children, it's even more difficult to get everything done ina day. Is it possible to have it all? Yes, but not unless you learn solid timemanagement skills.∙∙Step 2: Write Down Your Goalso What would you like to accomplish during a week? Writing this down will help you figure out how to make your actual week look more like your ideal one.2. For each of the areas mentioned above, write down how much time you'd bespending per week on each if you were managing your time in an ideal way. Forexample: Work, 40; Family Obligations, 10; Exercise, 5; Leisure Activities, 10; Sleep,56.3. Remember, there are only 168 hours in a week, so make sure your tally is under that.4. Take the principles of work-life balance into : Work-LifeBalance: Ways to Restore Harmony and Reduce Stress While your paycheck mightlook better if you try to work 80 hour weeks, other areas of your life will undoubtedlysuffer.5. Now contrast your ideal schedule against your present reality. Note in each areawhere you are spending more or less time than you'd like.Web MD: 6 Tips for BetterTime Management For example, although you believe that you should be setting aside10 hours in which to enjoy your leisure activities, you might find that you're notspending more than two or three a week on your hobbies.∙Step 1: Observe Yourselfo Before you can figure out how to manage your time more effectively, you first must study the ways you are spending it now.1. Start writing down how you spend your time in a journal, calendar or electronicdevice such as your Palm Pilot.The Boston Globe: To Keep Organized, Mixed the Oldand New(December 16, 2007)2. Don't worry yet about trying to use your time more efficiently. If you normallywatch two hours of television a day, keep doing so and write it down.Web MD: 6 Tipsfor Better Time Management3. After two or three weeks, you should have a good idea of how you spend yourtime. Break your life into categories and write down the average hours per week youspend in each of them. Examples of categories are work, family and home obligations,exercise, leisure activities and sleep.University of Queensland: Time Management4. To make sure you account for them, write down the activities you normally dounder each category. For example, the category family obligations might contain thefollowing items: family dinner, school pick-ups and drop-offs, house cleaning, kid'ssoccer practice. This will give you a better idea of how much time you're spending ineach compartment of your life.5. Also include activities you'd like to add to the schedule. For example, if you'vebeen thinking it would be nice to start a book group, add it to your leisure activities soyou can figure out how to make time for it in your schedule.Web MD: 6 Tips for BetterTime Management∙Step 3: Figure Out What You Can Cut Outo Chances are you'll find some places in your schedule where you're spending more time than you should be. Decide how you can cut these areas down in order toopen up more time.1. See if there's anything in your schedule you can get rid of altogether. Thatsoap opera you watch everyday could be replaced, for example, with the exerciseprogram you've always wanted to start.Time: How We Spend Our Leisure Time2. Decide what can be cut back. While going out to happy hour three nights aweek with your friends might be a great way to unwind after the work day, it's also amajor time suck. While it's a leisure activity you needn't cut out altogether, perhapsyou could go out on one designated work night instead.3. Double up on some activities. Look through your schedule and see if you cancreate more time by multi-tasking. If you have to do reading for work or school, take italong to the gym and read while you peddle the stationary bike or walk the treadmill.Buy a hands-free device for your cell phone and return business calls while stuck inrush hour traffic. However, don't overdo it as too much multi-tasking can beN: Multitasking is Counterproductive(December 6, 2001)4. Determine whether you can outsource any activities. If you're spending toolong at the office, while other team members leave early everyday, maybe you'retaking on too much of the burden and can delegate some of your work to others.Similarly, at home you might be able to open up time by hiring someone to clean yourhouse or do repairs you've taken on yourself. And personal assistants can doeverything from buying your groceries to checking your email.Four Hour Work Week:How to Outsource the Inbox∙Step 4: Be Realistico Remember, you're not a robot who can be productive all the time. If you make your schedule too rigid, you'll only be bound to fail and disappoint yourself.1. While some jobs require more than a 40-hour work week, being overworkedall the time will have negative effects on your physical and emotional health.The NewYork Times: Always on the Job, Employees Pay With Health(September 5, 2004)2. While sleep needs vary, most function optimally at between seven and eighthours a night.WebMD: How Much Sleep Do You Need? Though it takes up asignificant amount of your weekly schedule, cheating on sleep will only leave youdrained for the rest of your activities.3. Don't schedule something in every possible hour. Leave a few gaps to have acup of tea, chat on the phone and so on.4. If your schedule lacks leisure activities, find a way to put them in. For weeksthat look especially hectic, make time to utilize some relaxation techniques to keepyour calm and Relaxation Techniques: Learn Ways to CalmYour Stress∙Step 5: Stick to Ito Don't let your planner become relegated to the junk pile after a few weeks.Keep using it on a regular basis.1. Every Sunday, write out your obligations for the week ahead and write in yourpersonal commitments, such as choosing three days to go for a run after work orreading a novel for an hour before bed. Planning ahead is a key way to meet yourgoals.WebMD: How To Reach Your Goals2. Notice the things on your schedule that you're not completing. For example, ifyou don't go for that run after work, it might be because you were too tired.WebMD:What's the Best Time to Exercise? If this is a reoccurring problem, then you mightneed to move your schedule around a little a bit and run three times a week beforework.3. Be flexible about changing your schedule : TheBenefits of a Flexible Attitude Think of it as a blueprint for the week, not a Bible. If afriend you haven't seen in a year comes through town on the night you're supposed toattend your painting class, don't miss out on a fun visit because you're clinging toorigidly to your schedule.4. Keep tweaking your schedule for optimal use. Pay attention to your naturalrhythms to figure out which activities to do when.Nova Magazine: Unleash Your InnerEnergy If you feel most creative in the morning, schedule time to work on your writingor drawing then, not at four in the afternoon when you feel the most lethargic.∙Conclusiono The best way to ensure that you use your time effectively is to make yourself accountable. Though scheduling out your time takes a good amount ofplanning and effort, doing so will lead you to feel more organized and confidentthat you can accomplish your goals and achieve balance.。